Brazil Supreme Court judge clears ex-president Lula of corruption charges

Brazil's ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been cleared of corruption by a Supreme Court judge, opening the path to a possible run for the presidency in 2022.

The Supreme Court judge overturned all four convictions against the ex-president. The judge's ruling now sends the cases to a federal court. The ruling is yet to be reviewed by the full Supreme Court.

The verdict gives Lula the right to run for the office unless the convictions are reinstated.

Lula was convicted after the country's police conducted operation car wash - a probe into a huge bribery scandal involving hundreds of prominent Brazilians including CEOS, top politicians and the massive state-owned oil company Petrobras.

The investigation found billions of dollars in bribes were being paid between a coordinated ring of Petrobras executives, construction companies and politicians. It is considered to be one of the biggest scandals in the history of Latin America that threw the country into a political crisis.

Lula, who is a left-wing icon to many was freed in 2019 after 18 months in jail. Lula governed Latin America's most populous country and the largest economy between 2003 and 2011.